New Castle Serenity Pellet Stove

[dooleyj67]

Im

The first bag was Tractor Supply branded hardwood pellets.The second bag was Lowes that says "clean energy " on the bag. Do you take the pics through the glass or with the door open. Can you open the door with it running. Your stove looks a little different inside. Mine was made in"16".

I'm burning the same tractor supply hardwood pellets, for the picture either or open /closed. You can open the door.

Mine is a castle serenity.

 

[dooleyj67]

From what I understand some people clean the pot and inside while it's running. I turn mine off, not that comfortable with it yet.

 

[Hiskid]

Im


I'm burning the same tractor supply hardwood pellets, for the picture either or open /closed. You can open the door.

Mine is a castle serenity.

Thanks, its a Serenity too. I'll wrangle my beloved with her smartyphone when she's not busy and get back to you.

 

[dooleyj67]

I'm going to either lowes or Glowing Embers for pellets today. I don't know about you but the TSC brand don't seem all that good.

 

[dooleyj67]

Thanks, its a Serenity too. I'll wrangle my beloved with her smartyphone when she's not busy and get back to you.

Thank you it would be Great to see pictures from other people.

 

[rich2500]

Morning all, so it used 3/4 of the hopper from 9:08pm to 8:00am. It's cold here now so I'm using:

Heat setting 3 - manual.

Still a lot of ash that didn't change and I don't think the new box helped. Grrrrr...

For 13 hours on heat level 3 ,. 3/4 of a bag is nornal

 

[dooleyj67]

For 13 hours on heat level 3 ,. 3/4 of a bag is nornal

Great to hear thank you rich2500. I guess the new box worked.

I just burned my last pot of TSC hardwood pellets, cleaned and vacuumed the hopper out. There was a Lot of fines /dust in the bottom.

On to "Easyblaze" brand now. I really hope there is a difference...

 

[ronjovi001]

Hi Guys... I have had my Serenity for 1 1/2 years. LOVE IT... I live in Central PA. I am such a novice at this. Hoping I am doing everything properly. Can anyone guide me with a couple of issues. Burning Stove Chow pellets from Home Depot (burns cleanest of the brands I have tried and I buy a skid each winter). Right now, it is 7 degrees outside and on setting 5, the stove is maintaining at about 77 degrees according to control panel. Is that okay?
Here are the other issues/questions:
1) Not immediately, but after a while, from day one of owning the stove, I get some white soot build up going up the left side of the glass, even after cleaning. I also sometimes, over a period of time, get a white soot in one spot directly in the middle of the glass. I don't think I can open the door while it is burning like others have mentioned doing here- mine shuts off. I clean the glass when cool with non abrasive Cook Top Cleaning Creme for ceramic cook tops. Works GREAT!
2) How hot should my stove pipe/exhaust be getting, if at all? I never noticed it being hot to the touch before, but it has been recently. I worry that I am wasting a lot of heat escaping through the exhaust.
3) I have never messed with the settings as I frankly don't understand what each does... if someone has the time, can you do a Settings 101 on what settings impact what? The manual is no help.

I have a few others, but that is it for now. I figure I would throw these out to all of the seasoned veterans on here.
BTW- Happy New Year.

 

[mikkeeh]

Just installed my Serenity as a auxiliary heat in the basement. Was having trouble with overfeeding. Set on manual, level 1, I was burning through a hopper in < 12 hrs. Called Ardisam and they sent out a new control panel and module. Seems much better now. On level 1 I am getting about 18hrs. Hopper doesn’t seem to empty completely, so its hard to be accurate, but its much better. Still tweaking air intake and exhausts stalls. Been using Somersets.
Nice stove overall for the money. Still getting a clinker in the bottom of the pot, requiring shutdown and removal every 24hrs. Can’t really clean it with the stove running. Got used to my P43...its been running 40+ days without shutdown.....but its a complete different feed system. I did install a exterior control rod for the air shutter. Makes life easier. Great info on the site!

 

[Deezl Smoke]

Hi Guys... I have had my Serenity for 1 1/2 years. LOVE IT... I live in Central PA. I am such a novice at this. Hoping I am doing everything properly. Can anyone guide me with a couple of issues. Burning Stove Chow pellets from Home Depot (burns cleanest of the brands I have tried and I buy a skid each winter). Right now, it is 7 degrees outside and on setting 5, the stove is maintaining at about 77 degrees according to control panel. Is that okay?
Here are the other issues/questions:
1) Not immediately, but after a while, from day one of owning the stove, I get some white soot build up going up the left side of the glass, even after cleaning. I also sometimes, over a period of time, get a white soot in one spot directly in the middle of the glass. I don't think I can open the door while it is burning like others have mentioned doing here- mine shuts off. I clean the glass when cool with non abrasive Cook Top Cleaning Creme for ceramic cook tops. Works GREAT!
2) How hot should my stove pipe/exhaust be getting, if at all? I never noticed it being hot to the touch before, but it has been recently. I worry that I am wasting a lot of heat escaping through the exhaust.
3) I have never messed with the settings as I frankly don't understand what each does... if someone has the time, can you do a Settings 101 on what settings impact what? The manual is no help.

I have a few others, but that is it for now. I figure I would throw these out to all of the seasoned veterans on here.
BTW- Happy New Year.

First, go up to the top of the page and move your mouse cursor over the little down pointing arrow to right of the icon "media". In the menu that scrolls down, click on "search media".
On the page that loads, click on "search threads and posts".
Next in the keywords line type "serenity". Then scroll down and where it says "search in forums" scroll the menu till you see the pellet mill. Click on that and hit the search button at the bottom.
That'll bring up many threads with lots of info on the settings in the control panel.

If after reading a while you still dont see what you need, come back and the nice people here will do what they can to help explain the settings.

 

[rich2500]

Just installed my Serenity as a auxiliary heat in the basement. Was having trouble with overfeeding. Set on manual, level 1, I was burning through a hopper in < 12 hrs. Called Ardisam and they sent out a new control panel and module. Seems much better now. On level 1 I am getting about 18hrs. Hopper doesn’t seem to empty completely, so its hard to be accurate, but its much better. Still tweaking air intake and exhausts stalls. Been using Somersets.
Nice stove overall for the money. Still getting a clinker in the bottom of the pot, requiring shutdown and removal every 24hrs. Can’t really clean it with the stove running. Got used to my P43...its been running 40+ days without shutdown.....but its a complete different feed system. I did install a exterior control rod for the air shutter. Makes life easier. Great info on the site!

mikkeeh here is what I used to clean my Serenity burnpot with out shutting it down, it's a stainless spatula that I cut the sides down to make it more narrow to fit down in the pot, I turn the spatula upside down and can get down in the pot and lift the clinker out and just toss it in the ash pan. By doing this once a day I would let my serenity burn for a week with out shutting it down.

 

[mikkeeh]

mikkeeh here is what I used to clean my Serenity burnpot with out shutting it down, it's a stainless spatula that I cut the sides down to make it more narrow to fit down in the pot, I turn the spatula upside down and can get down in the pot and lift the clinker out and just toss it in the ash pan. By doing this once a day I would let my serenity burn for a week with out shutting it down.
View attachment 220873

Hmmmmm Time to bend some sheet metal. Thanks

 

[wayn]

Hi all! Have had my Serenity for three seasons now, really like the way it heats the 800+/- square feet of space I ask it to! Have never gone above heat setting 2, usually stay at 1 and can keep the chill off really well.
MY biggest gripe w/this stove is that even when it’s so low the ‘out of pellets’ alarm is about to go off I can’t get a full bag of pellets - usually Tractor Suckply - into the hopper.
I admittedly am only keeping the space at about 60° here in VT but can do so for more than 24hrs on a bag.
Really like the stove but SERIOUSLY wish it had variable feed/fan rates instead of stepped ones, since there are days when setting 1 leaves me in the 80°+ range, and I don’t like turning on/off...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mikkeeh]

Hi all! Have had my Serenity for three seasons now, really like the way it heats the 800+/- square feet of space I ask it to! Have never gone above heat setting 2, usually stay at 1 and can keep the chill off really well.
MY biggest gripe w/this stove is that even when it’s so low the ‘out of pellets’ alarm is about to go off I can’t get a full bag of pellets - usually Tractor Suckply - into the hopper.
I admittedly am only keeping the space at about 60° here in VT but can do so for more than 24hrs on a bag.
Really like the stove but SERIOUSLY wish it had variable feed/fan rates instead of stepped ones, since there are days when setting 1 leaves me in the 80°+ range, and I don’t like turning on/off...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s basically what I’m trying to do with mine in my basement. Have NEVER got close to 24hrs on a bag on level 1. Called Ardisam. We switched out the control board, and the module. 16hrs is the max time on a full hopper. And you’re right.....cant get 40#s in.

 

[wayn]

That’s basically what I’m trying to do with mine in my basement. Have NEVER got close to 24hrs on a bag on level 1. Called Ardisam. We switched out the control board, and the module. 16hrs is the max time on a full hopper. And you’re right.....cant get 40#s in.

When I bought mine, the feed screw mounting plate was loose, and the tech folks stepped me through fixing it... they DID say if I couldn’t fix it on-site they’d send another one. Something about QC suffering after farming out stove construction to China.

Maybe they’d do the same - or similar - for you?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rich2500]

16 hrs. is right about what i would average, I have gotten as many as 18 hrs. with longer pellets. there was some one that posted a pic some time ago of how he added a piece of sheet metal to the bottom of the pellet chute extending down about 3" to slow the feed rate.

 

[Talegas]

16 hrs. is right about what i would average, I have gotten as many as 18 hrs. with longer pellets. there was some one that posted a pic some time ago of how he added a piece of sheet metal to the bottom of the pellet chute extending down about 3" to slow the feed rate.

My record was 20 hrs with a single bag. that was last year, this year I haven't been able to test it again since the weather has pushed me to always have it in lvl 2 or 3 to keep warm. Not sure if is really the weather or if there was something changed in the house or if it is the pellets itself (used hardwood last time, this time softwood) that is not yielding as much heat as before.

I used to open up the basement door into the laundry when to keep the house between 70 and 72.. now I am struggling to reach 70.

anyway, 20 hrs or more since it leaves quite a good number of pellets in the hopper before shutting down is my record.

 

[dozerdean]

Castle serenity is not a multi-fuel so no corn... Looks like heat level is the only way to control the feed rate of the auger... Could use a thermostat which will cycle it off but this is harder on the ignitor.

Any pellet stove can burn corn as long as you do a mixture.

 

[dozerdean]

Dooleyj67, interesting pictures! I'm new to pellet stoves, but got my Castle this past summer and have been absolutly loving it, and learning lots from it.

You're pictures show lots and lots of ash (I'm burning wood chips and pellets 90/10 mix) and don't see that much, and chips are dirty (but super cheap). The white color tells me you're burning ok (onto the lean side - too much air) and hot with the pattern on the glass and metal shell saying you have a lot of flame; probably too hot for the stove. Got a picture of when it's burning? Do you hear the auger switching on and off? Should be on for something like 2 seconds and off for 5, and continuing to cycle like that. And if you watch your burn pot, how high are the pellets getting from the bottom? Should be 1/4-1/2" in the pot; more than that and it's feeding too fast for the way the pot is designed and drilled.

The controller on the top of the stove is based on an Atmel processor while the bottom box next to the intake has power filtering and opto-isolators with small mosfets (on-off switches); if the mosfet is bad for the auger and failed closed, the auger motor could be running at full power and not cycling.

Billy

What are you calling wood chips? Like chain saw chips? I think it jam your auger..

 

[Talegas]

Any pellet stove can burn corn as long as you do a mixture.

does corn burn hotter?

 

[dozerdean]

does corn burn hotter?

I can feel the difference. I do a 80-20 mixture and clean the corn.

 

[Talegas]

I can feel the difference. I do a 80-20 mixture and clean the corn.

So this is what you buy? is not fuel, but chicken feed.

 

[dozerdean]

So this is what you buy? is not fuel, but chicken feed.
View attachment 221024

Until you try whole clean corn don't knock it!

 

[dozerdean]

I got my corn from the elevator @ clean it myself..

 

[Ssyko]

I don’t suppose they deliver?